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Humans Created These Mysterious Stone Spheres A Million Years Ago and We Don

Hundreds of mysterious stone spheres have been found during archaeological excavations around the world dating back up to 1.5 million years. While their origins were unclear, a new study using 3D analysis techniques on 150 spheres from Israel dated to 1.4 million years ago concludes that the spheres were intentionally crafted by early humans, representing the oldest evidence of humans creating symmetrical shapes in stone. The study found that nature cannot produce shapes as truly spherical as the spheres, suggesting early humans were trying to achieve a spherical ideal and had a mentally preconceived idea of what they were sculpting, though the exact purpose of the spheres remains unknown.

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39 views2 pages

Humans Created These Mysterious Stone Spheres A Million Years Ago and We Don

Hundreds of mysterious stone spheres have been found during archaeological excavations around the world dating back up to 1.5 million years. While their origins were unclear, a new study using 3D analysis techniques on 150 spheres from Israel dated to 1.4 million years ago concludes that the spheres were intentionally crafted by early humans, representing the oldest evidence of humans creating symmetrical shapes in stone. The study found that nature cannot produce shapes as truly spherical as the spheres, suggesting early humans were trying to achieve a spherical ideal and had a mentally preconceived idea of what they were sculpting, though the exact purpose of the spheres remains unknown.

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Humans created these mysterious stone spheres a million years ago and we don't

know why!

They have been found in excavations around the world but we hardly know anything
about them.

Hundreds of stone spheres have been found in archaeological excavations around the
world | | Muller, Antoine, et al. Royal Society Open Science (2023)
It is often said that archaeologists are the detectives of the past, with the added difficulty
that the cases they investigate happened thousands of years ago. Despite this important
drawback, the advancement of technology and the development of new analysis
techniques are dispelling some doubts that seemed irresolvable. One example of these
timeless enigmas are the mysterious stone spheres that have been found in dozens of
excavations and have filled archaeologists with questions and wonder for decades.
What you see in the image above are limestone spheroids, about the size of a tennis ball,
dating back as much as a million and a half years in the past. They have been found all
over the world, in excavations separated by thousands of kilometers, from Africa to
Indonesia, China, India, and even in the Orce deposits in Granada in Spain.

On the right, map with the excavations where stone spheroids have been found. On the
right, the location of the Ubeidiya excavation where the study was carried out | Muller,
Antoine, et al. Royal Society Open Science (2023)
The question that has been asked the most during all these years is, obviously, if these
spheres were intentional creations or if they arose naturally. Many of these stones have
been found close to other stone tools and one might think that they were simply the result
of stones left over while making flakes for axes and spears. In riverbeds boulders
frequently appear, also on the sea shores you can find circularly eroded stones or perhaps
hitting other stones could leave this result (somewhat more difficult but also possible).
This scientific dilemma has aroused great curiosity and has persisted for many years
until, this very week, a detailed study appeared in Royal Society Open Science
concluding that the spheres were created intentionally. It is a good step to clear up the
many open unknowns about these spheres and also "represents the oldest evidence that
hominids want and manage to create symmetrical shapes in stone."

Some of the stone spheres found in different archaeological campaigns in Israel | Muller,
Antoine, et al. Royal Society Open Science (2023)
The research has been carried out by scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
using one hundred and fifty stone spheroids, dated to approximately 1.4 million years ago
and found at the archaeological site of 'Ubeidiya, in northern present-day Israel.
To do this, they have used 3D analysis techniques with which they have reconstructed the
geometry of the stones to conclude that "they were made intentionally." In the study they
explain that, "although nature can achieve smooth-shaped pebbles and boulders, such as
those of a river or stream, they almost never come close to a truly spherical shape."

3D analysis and methods for measuring edge angles, center of mass and surface curvature
| Muller, Antoine, et al. Royal Society Open Science (2023)
The authors venture to think that the hominids responsible for these stones "were trying
to achieve the Platonic ideal of a sphere" and, as archaeologist Julia Cabanas explains, it
also means that these first sculptors already "had a mentally preconceived idea" of what
they were doing. ”.
Of course, there are still many important unknowns about these lithic artifacts, such as…
Why were they sculpted? The theories being considered are diverse and include some
interesting ideas. In the most practical aspect, some authors are inclined to think that
these hominids “were trying to make a tool that could extract marrow from bones or
crush plants.” Other scientists suggest that they could be used as projectiles and the
possibility also arises that these spheroids could even have had a symbolic or artistic
purpose. Maybe we will never have an answer to these questions... or maybe a future
study will give us another surprise about its function.

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